Growing Up, Moving On - Chlo, Donte and Izzie
by StarryEyes17
Summary: The lives of Donte, Chlo and Izzie Charles from just under a year after Tom Clarkson's death. It shows some hard challenges that they have to face in order to move on, and as Izzie begins to progress through school, they have to make some tough decisions.
1. Happy Birthday

_"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Izzie, Happy Birthday to you!"_

Chlo sang, as she led the way into the purple butterfly bedroom, which was flooded with light from the sunshine of that bright morning in May. Following closely behind, was Donte, cradling a large pile of neatly wrapped presents, all covered in fairies and ribbons, ready to be torn apart by an excited five year old.

Izzie giggled from her hiding place under the covers, and wriggled her way up the bed so her eyes just popped out the top. She saw the huge pile of gifts which were now being placed on the floor and immediately jumped up, grabbing her favourite teddy from the top of the overflowing tower and scrambling down to give her loving parents an excitable cuddle.

Chlo looked at Donte cradling his treasured sweetheart in his arms and smiled, overwhelmed again with the relief that she had made the right decision to keep the girl who was now most precious to her and her husband. Memories flooded her mind of that day in Rochdale five years before and she was overtaken with many emotions. She thought of Miss Campbell, the caring teacher, who spoke kind words over her in the school toilets and for the nine months before. Chlo also thought of Janeece, of Maxine, the two friends that had meant so much to her during that time, and who she missed so dearly. Next, her mother entered her mind, she hoped that Izzie would be looking down on her proudly, knowing she had done the right thing. And finally, her thoughts moved to Tom, the man who had cared for her and Mika during one of the saddest times of their lives. He had stood by so happily and watched Izzie grow up over her first four years, and it tore Chlo apart knowing they wouldn't be receiving a visit filled with love and care this year. They all knew he had died a hero, and she knew Mika and Josh were so proud too, but all she wanted was to see him again, grinning and twirling Izzie around their living room.

'Mummy?' Izzie questioned impatiently tugging at her Mum's arm and looking up at her with wide eyes.

Chlo suddenly snapped out of her thoughts, not realising so much time had passed 'Oh yes, sorry sweetie, I'll go and find some, I think we've got a few in the kitchen cupboard, back in two seconds!' She said, hurrying downstairs to find some batteries for Izzie's brand new Talking Disney Princess.

Donte grinned at his baby girl as she squealed with delight at the sparkly pink pair of shoes she had just pulled from the paper. He was amazed at how beautiful she'd become, already resembling her mother in so many ways, and he felt his heart could almost burst with pride. As Chlo came back into the room a few minutes later, chattering that there were only two AA batteries left and they would have to pop to the shops later, he looked around and knew he had made the right decisions in life. He was eternally grateful to Tom, for looking after them, for letting them get married, for the house they were still so happily living in, and he wished he were still here to tell him how much it meant to them. He looked again at his wife and caught eye contact with her for a just few moments, nodding, winking and pointing up, which was their signal to show that Tom and Izzie were together, watching over them somewhere. Chlo did the same, before stooping down to brush her daughter's hair with her brand new Barbie hairbrush.

'Alright then, who wants a very special birthday breakfast treat of WAFFLES AND ICECREAM?' Donte questioned, running around the huge pile of presents and scooping the crumpled wrapping paper into a black bin bag.

'ME! ME! ME!' Izzie screamed. She jumped up and down on her bed, grinning from ear to ear.

'Well you'd better get your new dressing gown on then hadn't you? And then Daddy can give you a piggy back downstairs.' Laughed Chlo as the phone began to ring, she hurried out of the room to try and answer the call before it went to answer machine.

Donte was about to haul Izzie on his shoulders when she suddenly stopped him and looked at him very seriously. 'Daddy, is Mummy still sad about Grandad?' She asked, her big brown eyes looking so sincere and innocent that her father had to choke back the tears as he spoke.

'Yes honey, yes she is. We all are because it was very, very sad. But we're happy too, because now he can tell Granny all about what a lovely little girl you are, okay?'

'Okay, I love you! Now let's have waffles.' She reached her arms up to signify that she wanted lifting, and they ran out the door and down the stairs, singing the Dora the Explorer theme tune as they went.


	2. The Barbecue

'Where on earth do they get all of their energy from?' Mika wondered aloud to her sister as they sat sunbathing at the garden table, watching all the children running around in circles playing stuck in the mud. 'They've been at it for half an hour now and I don't think they've stopped once to take a break!'

'Well I don't know where it's from, but I could do with a bit of it myself with the piles of paperwork I need to get through for next week.' Laughed Chlo, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. She squinted from the sunlight as she looked at their two empty mugs and stood up, declaring that she needed her sunglasses, and offering to make some more tea for her older sister. Her offer was quickly accepted, so she picked up the mugs and walked away, her flip-flops squeaking as she walked.

Mika stretched her legs out and leaned back, making the most of the unexpected warmth that had suddenly arrived earlier that week. It was unusual for the weather to be as good as it was in early May, and she certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to get a good tan while the sun was still out. She rested her hands on her large, round stomach and felt a slight kick as the excitable bundle danced around inside of her. At 23, Mika was a beautiful and successful business woman, who was married and already the mother to a healthy two-year old boy, with another baby soon on the way. Alfie, her grinning little toddler waddled over to her, concentrating hard as he walked down the small step, being very careful not to topple over. He had curly blonde hair just like his dad, and sparkling blue eyes like his Mum, everyone always commented on what a gorgeous boy he was. He rubbed his eyes and reached his arms up, yawning as he did so. As he was younger than all of the other children at the party he was tired, and just about ready for an afternoon nap. Mika hoisted him up onto her knee and let him gently touch her stomach. Over the last eight months he had learnt to be careful around his Mummy's tummy, as his parents had made sure he knew that there was a precious little person inside.

'Ade love, could you come and take Alfie to Izzie's room please? I think he needs a rest!' Mika called across the garden to the three men stood around the barbecue, holding cans of carling and laughing together. A tall, tanned, handsome Australian turned round and put his beer down, jogging along the patio to his wife and son. Aiden was 25 years old, and had moved to England 7 years ago, to go to university, and in the end, meet and marry the love of his life. He smiled down at Mika and leaned in to kiss her, resting one hand on her stomach and the other on the back of the chair. He then looked at Alfie and pulled a silly face, lifting him up above his head whilst making ridiculous aeroplane noises.

'Hey there champ! How ya doing?' He asked in his strong accent. Mika chuckled, she loved the way Aiden was with kids, it was one of the many reasons she'd fallen in love with him. 'Right, let's get you upstairs for a nap then, don't want you falling asleep out here and getting burnt now do we?'

Little Alfie giggled quietly before snuggling his head sleepily onto his Dad's shoulder, his eyes already drooping shut. Aiden looked at Mika and flashed a cheeky smile, winking and mouthing _I Love You_ before twirling around and making his way to the back door. Mika shook her head and watched as they walked away. From the corner of her eye she saw a picture on the fireplace of her with Chlo and Tom, she sighed quietly, wishing he were there with them. As she held this thought, Chlo made her way back across the garden, bare foot this time having obviously gotten annoyed with the irritating squeak that followed her everywhere she went. Knowing what her sister was thinking she placed the mugs down and put a hand on her shoulder.

'Missing him, right?'

'Uh-huh, more and more every day. It sucks.' She whispered, looking up into Chlo's eyes and blinking back tears.

'I know. Why do we always lose the best ones?' Chlo replied. She pulled her chair up closer to Mika's and began retelling the story of the time they were furiously attacking each other back at Waterloo Road and Tom had to come and pull them apart to stop them killing each other. Mika held her pregnant stomach and laughed hysterically at the memory, extremely entertained by how much they had argued over a boy.

'Well you did sleep with my boyfriend, Chlo. I mean, I had been sure I was going to marry Brett, you know, all through school and during my first year at uni!'

'I remember when you and him split. You refused to leave your flat for weeks, you just cried all of the time' Chlo shrieked in hysterics.

'Hey shut up!' Mika slapped her sister. 'I thought my life was over, I swore I'd never love again.'

'Yeah I know, you were just playing _tears on my pillow_ on repeat, and Tom had to come and deliver you ice-cream, pizza and tissues.' Chlo collapsed in a heap on the floor whilst Mika started crying with laughter and gripping the edge of the table to stay balanced.

'Oh stop, the baby'll start getting stroppy in a minute.' She giggled, wiping her eyes and stroking her belly.

Once Chlo had finally composed herself and started drinking her tea, she saw Aiden reappear next to Donte and a friend of theirs. She inhaled the smell of sausages and burgers and listened to the sound of some cheesy pop music playing through the speakers and realised that despite the constant ache in her heart from the loss of Tom, she was happy, and she hoped that the calmness she had recently been feeling would last. She was proud of her sister, for finding the man she was destined to be with, and for starting her own successful business whilst also raising a family. Chlo heard her daughter giggling and squealing and saw Donte chasing her around the garden, followed by a herd of children cheering him on. She stood up and ran over to join in the chaos and round-up the kids for dinner time.

_N/A Okay, so I'm really sorry about splitting up Mika and Brett, I know they were a really cute couple but I wanted to make the story more realistic. And I mean in my head they didn't even go to the same uni, and so when I was writing this I just decided that Aiden would be a more interesting character to write about. Hope this one's alright, I'll upload again once or twice during the week hopefully!_


	3. Eva and Sadie

_A/N I am so so sorry it's been so long, this summer holiday is already even more hectic than I had expected! Hope this chapter's alright, I always find it hard to write about new character but hey-ho, her we go. Haha, I just realised I just accidentally wrote N/A at the end of my last chapter, I'm so silly! Anyways, enjoy! :)_

Eva looked around her at the deserted park as she scuffed her trainers on the floor beneath the swing set to slow down to a stop. She rummaged through her backpack and found her cheap MP3 Player and some earphones; she placed them in her ears, pressed shuffle and turned the volume up high so her rock music was blasting loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. She'd just dropped her younger sister, Sadie, off at breakfast club and had 1 hour free time before she had to be as school herself, this was her free thinking time.

With the rest of the world blocked out, Eva started to think about Sadie, and how they were going to cope over the next three months without any adults around. Sharon, their mother, had a tendency to do this every time she met a new man, disappearing with him for a month or two without leaving more than a note to warn the children. Eva had gotten used to it, and by the time Damien had appeared, she knew what she had to do, how she had to handle things, but recently it had been getting harder. The last time it happed, teachers at the primary school had started to notice Sharon was never at the school gates, and Eva's teachers had become suspicious when nobody turned up to parents evening. She worried that this time it would be too hard to miss, three months was the longest Sharon had ever been gone and somebody was bound to find out. She stood up, took her bag and slung it over her shoulder, sighing and deciding she had to go into school and get extra homework done to fit in time for a trip to the supermarket later. She frowned, suddenly filled with anger that her mother had done this to them again. She kicked the bin and she stormed out of the park gate, looking down to see a huge ladder forming in her tights and rolling her emerald eyes with fury.

'Ugh, Stupid Cow.' She whispered, shaking her head with disappointment as she was sure those were the only pair she had left. Eva knew Sharon hadn't left enough money behind for her to buy anymore, so she decided she would have to go without, even though it was winter and her skirt was slightly on the small side. With that thought, she sped down the field towards school to the fast beat of her music, planning how to fit everything she needed to do into the small space of time she had.

Chlo stirred her cup of coffee, staring at the milk and sugar as it all formed into one hot cup of caffeine to keep her going for the morning. The staff room was pretty much empty, as most teachers didn't arrive for another half hour at least, and those that were around were probably at breakfast club. Only one other member of staff was present in the room, Mr Fraser, and he was far too interested in his obviously fascinating game of Tetris to notice anything around him. Chlo looked across at his frog like face, his eyes wide with sheer exhilaration from the snake crawling around on the screen, and she giggled to herself at the sight. She then placed her mug onto the table and opened up her day planner to see what was set for the day ahead. She had only been working as a Teaching Assistant at Greenmeadow Primary School for a month and two days, so she still found it a little complicating to keep up with the schedules and routines. Seeing that she would be helping with a Year 6 class, she knew this meant they would be doing last minute preparation for their sats tests, so she wouldn't need to look over Mrs Harrison's lesson plans or anything like that. Pleased with the unexpected free time she decided to take a trip to the hall to visit her daughter.

When the sound of her mother's stylish black heels came clip-clopping round the corner, Izzie turned round from facing her best friend and grinned with delight. She really loved having Chlo around when she was at school, but over the last month she'd learnt not to follow her around like a puppy, but instead just give her a quick cuddle if they bumped into each other in the corridors.

'Hello Sweetie. How's the breakfast?' Chlo asked, putting down her mug and picking up her daughters pigtails, wiggling them around in the air whilst making space alien-like noises.

'It's deeeeeelicious!' Izzie replied, taking another mammoth bite out of her slice of toast with marmalade.

Sadie watched as they chatted away, her hazel eyes wide with fascination as they laughed and talked together. She looked at her mousy blonde hair which was hanging around her shoulders, messy and not brushed and felt a strange confusion as to why she didn't have a Mummy who made her hair look pretty too. She let out a giggle as the family in front of her started to do a crazy handshake, slapping hands and making silly faces whilst twirling round in circles. Chlo heard this and looked over to see a very small, slightly scruffy but very sweet little girl, grinning with the huge gap where her front baby teeth used to be.

'Hello there, you must be a friend of Izzie's, what's your name?' She asked bending down and resting on her knees so she could make eye contact with the five year old.

'Sadie.' She replied, she was always naturally shy when it came to new people.

'Well it's lovely to meet you Sadie, I've heard so much about you. I'm Mrs Charles!' Chlo smiled warmly, holding out a hand which Sadie shook politely in return. 'We will definitely have to have you round for dinner some time, Izzie's Daddy loves a good reason to make burgers!'

Sadie let a huge smile spread across her face; her eyes sparkling with wonder at the angel woman crouched in front of her. 'That sounds so cool! I will have to ask Eva first though.'

'Oh, and who's Eva?'

'My sister.' Sadie replied innocently, already distracted looking over to Izzie who was squealing with excitement that her friend would finally be coming round for tea.

'Right, okay. Well we'd love to meet her too, wouldn't we Iz?' Chlo said, trying not to seem startled that a parent of some kind hadn't been mentioned.

'Oh yes Mummy. But I already have, she's always at the school gate after school, she comes just before we go!' Izzie replied, chuffed that she seemed grown up enough to have already met somebody older than her before her mother.

Chlo tried not to frown, but she was obviously concerned. She sometimes wouldn't leave school until as late as 4:30pm after the day was over, which was far too late for a reception child to be waiting to be picked up. At first she had thought Eva was a much older sister, maybe in her 20's, but it suddenly occurred to Chlo that she could still be in school, only a teenager. And where was the mother in all of this? She tried to shake the thoughts away, telling herself she was just worrying for no reason, but the questions just kept running through her mind. She looked at the girls who were now skipping around singing a one direction song and pushed the confusion to the back of her mind.

'Well, I'd best be off now love, I've got a lesson with the big kids!' She told her daughter, giving her a quick hug at a kiss on the head. 'Lovely to meet you Sadie, we'll talk to your sister as soon as we can okay? Bye now!'

Sadie watched in awe as the beautiful lady walked back out of the hall towards the special teacher room that children weren't allowed in. She exclaimed to Izzie about how wonderful her mother was, and after agreeing with this, Izzie decided they should finish their breakfast and then go and play pirate adventures, so they did.


End file.
